the little rubber bands on my new Model Power 4-4-0 steam engine traction wheels are mismatched, one is good one is slightly narrow on half the wheel, does not provide traction and causes wheel slip in certain areas. engine lurches a lot due to the uneven pulling on either side. I want to fix it but MRC has no info on the rubber band part and the disassemble. does anyone have any experience taking the wheels side linkages off to install a new traction band? Considering trying to paint some material on as well, hi tack rubber compound of some kind. any advice or suggestions are appreciated. the model is great, but the traction wheel issue is forcing me to do too much track work on sections all my other engines roll through without any problem.
I can't find a diagram for a 4-4-0. I can't find any mention of it. I see they built a lot of 0-4-0 switchers. Traditionally, side rods are attached to drive wheels by a small hex-head bolt which can be turned counterclockwise by an appropriately tiny wrench or a pair of needle-nose pliers. If it has external valve gear, make note of the position of the little crank at the wheel. Take a pic if your camera can focus close enough. Axles can then be removed by unscrewing the retaining plate on the bottom. This works for the majority of steamers; your mileage can vary. Rubber cement does go on a lot quicker. It also comes off a lot quicker. It can help seat a proper replacement tire; clean the rim well and make the coat very, very thin.
The Bullfrog Snot is an effective tool for forming your own traction tires on a locomotive without removing the wheels. The small bottle is not cheap but it goes a long way since it takes very little. Essentially the old traction tire is removed and the loco run upside down at very slow speed in a cradle. The product is applied with something like a sharp pointed tooth pick or dental pick in a very small amount. The wheels are allowed to continue to turn for the time it takes the product to set up and full cure time is about 24 hours. If I remember right I let the loco run upside down for at least 30 to 40 minutes for the product to set up and then a day for it to cure before placing it on the track. The product has a good detailed instruction sheet and I believe the product and its use is on the web. If you mess up the set product is not difficult to remove and there is plenty enough to start over a hundred times if needed. I used it about 10 years ago for some old steamers. I have only applied the product to the drivers that were grooved for traction tires. Here is a video form the manufacturer's site. http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/vid_gallery.asp Here is the link to their site. http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/ Quite a few hobby shops carry this product including some of our advertisers here.
Ken, While removing the side rods from a model steamer is generally not difficult, the parts are very fiddly. The pins that go through the cranks are (usually, not 100% sure on yours) just a pressed in bit. Pulling on the cranks directly in line with the pin with a fine pair of narrow pliers, or even tweezers, will generally do it, but as I said, fiddly! For the price you paid for that little steamer, I'd be contacting the dealer first.
here is the part where I admit I am wrong. I am wrong. It may not be the traction wheels rubber band that is the issue, though it is part of the issue and it is slightly smaller, narrower and thinner, on one side. Regardless, the engine is now doing low speed laps over a 2% grade and passing over areas it previously had trouble with. Here is what happened, maybe you all can make some sense of it. the engine stutters and starts in areas of track. I thought at first it was the placement of the traction wheel in the center and a normal smooth driving wheel at the end towards the tender. I thought it was the hinging action at dips and rises lifting the traction wheels off the track. It's not that, it has enough hinging upward and spring loading in the front guide wheel trucks they dont lift the driving wheels. I think it might benefit from rear wheel drive with the weight distribution but I dont think its what is causing the stuttering and stopping with wheels spinning. I did smooth out every little dip and rise, that never gave any other engine any trouble, it seemed to improve things in some places and have no effect in others. So then I looked at it carefully and discovered the traction band was not taller than the groove its in on one wheel. I thought for sure that was the issue, and I am sure it is some kind of issue but now not sure how much. I fiddled with it and noticed the wheel set its on is large and has a large flange. yeah I'm new to steamers. Eventually I figured out that when i slide the engine on the track and it sticks and is harder to slide, it has to be binding, pinching, since the track is now spotless from around 5 cleanings trying to make everything run correctly. So I got out a Kato gauge, and reminded myself when I gauged my track that the Atlas 2500 code 80 flex track gauges much tighter than Kato Unitrack. The Kato Gauge forces it apart and widdens the Atlas. This seems to have allowed the 4-4-0 to pass through all the areas much better and is likely the primary culprit in the engines stuttering. Pinching, riding up on the flanges and slowly working its way through with little surface contact and lots of wheel spin. That is my new guess, since it's now apparent I am guessing at this
Have any of y'all seen something like fine tweezers with rubber-coated jaws? They'd be great when working with pins, as they need to be firmly grasped, but not so firmly that with a slip, the pin shoots away into the ether never to be seen again. A Seller with a great selection of micro-tools used to frequent local train shows, but I've not seen him for several years now.
I have a few surgical fine point tweezers that I used a very thin coat of my Bull Frog Snot on the tips. Others I have actually have small ribbed ends for holding onto things.
Well, I did it and it went OK. Only really fiddly part was reinstalling the middle pin as there is a tiny washer in the stacking of parts. Putting them on is harder than taking them off... by NScaleKen posted Nov 1, 2018 at 2:29 AM here you can maybe see how the top band is slightly narrower, its hard to see but there is a gap in the groove. the bottom traction band fills the groove completely and stands just higher than it. top traction band is an issue, stretched slightly tighter and not thick enough on the wheel by NScaleKen posted Nov 1, 2018 at 2:31 AM And taking them off... they are obviously very different, the darker one is thicker and slightly larger profile and works better, the lighter colored one is the problem part. the two traction wheel bands are obviously very different, darker is thicker and wider in profile and works better by NScaleKen posted Nov 1, 2018 at 2:40 AM Both have an issue with the profile height and design. They lay over on a side when installed and one half is larger diameter than the other creating a slope on the track facing surface and a thicker and thinner side. I am going to try and source square profile o rings and use 2 instead of one tall rectangular O ring stretched and laying on a side. The pins pull out with finger nails with moderate not scary tension applied, they push in easily and feel secure, good engineering on that. Working with it the model seems really nice, well built. The traction band issue is probably very uncommon, I seem to attract the mechanical devices that need a little love to function correctly. I guess they know I am good at repairing stuff and seek me out This won't be a problem to fix, easy peasy.
